Jeffrey S. Berns, MD, FASN is a Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Berns also serves in the University of Pennsylvania Health System as Vice-President and Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education. He is also an Associate Chief in the Renal, Electrolyte, and Hypertension Division at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Berns has an extensive record of accomplishment and leadership. He has devoted most of his professional career to patient care, medical education, and national service to the community. The recipient of numerous awards for teaching, Dr. Berns has been recognized annually for many years as a Philadelphia “Top Doc” in Nephrology. He has served as Deputy Editor of NephSAP and in editorial roles with CJASN, as well as on the ASN Education and Continuous Professional Development Committees. He currently serves on the ASN Home Dialysis Task Force.

Dr. Berns completed medical school at Case Western Reserve University, an internal medicine residency at University Hospitals of Cleveland, and a nephrology fellowship at Yale University. His primary research interests are anemia of chronic kidney disease (CKD), nephrology fellow education, and understanding how financial and other incentives and metrics affect clinical care and patient-centered outcomes for patients with kidney disease.

Dr. Berns served as President of the National Kidney Foundation from 2014-16, Chair of the American Board of Internal Medicine Nephrology Specialty Board from 2014-20, and Chair of ABIM Council from 2018-20. His published work covers numerous topics, including CKD, the anemia of CKD, and economic and financial aspects of nephrology care (including newer models of payment reform). Editor for the Nephrology Section of UpToDate and former co-Deputy Editor of American Journal of Kidney Disease, Dr. Berns has also published and spoken extensively on what is needed to strengthen nephrology training in the 21st century, and how we can make nephrology a specialty of choice.